Visually-impaired youth cracks OCS

Kendrapada: Being visually impaired could not stop Subham Soumen Senapati (28), a visually-impaired man of Sitalapatana village in Kendrapada district’s Garadpur block from cracking the Odisha Civil Services Examination, the results of which were declared recently. He secured 164 rank in his 4^th attempt and will be getting OAS. In 2015, Sanyasi Behera was the first visually-impaired man to get OAS.Subham lost his vision at the age of five due to wrong treatment by a doctor. He passed matriculation from Aurobindo School of New Thought, Cuttack, in 2013. His mother, who was a teacher in the school died in a road accident in 2012.He graduated with economics honours from Ravenshaw College, Cuttack, in 2018 and completed his post graduation in economics from Ravenshaw University in 2020. In 2019, he cleared the UGC-NET to qualify for the post of an assistant professor but decided to join the civil services and started preparations.“In 2024, I suffered from avascular necrosis (AVN) affecting bones in both hips. As a result, I was unable to walk. I underwent an operation at SVNIRTAR (Swami Vivekanand National Institute of Rehabilitation Training and Research) at Olatpur in 2025 but I am yet to recover completely,” said Subham.Talking to TOI, Subham said on Tuesday that he appeared in the examination with the help of a scribe. “My father, Abhaya, a small businessman, had always dreamt of seeing me as a distinguished person. My parents have taught me to work silently and let success make noise. Finally, their hard work has paid off. My next target is IAS. My only regret is that I lost my mother in 2012 in a road accident,” he said.Subham said life is a challenge for me and I have accepted it. “Hard work and strong determination are important for achieving anything in life. I want to serve my state with honesty,” he said, while thanking his friends for helping him financially for online coaching.His father is on cloud nine. “My son used to study 10 to 12 hours daily. His hard work has borne fruits,” said Abhaya. “Despite being a visually-impaired, Subham has achieved that millions of his age can only dream of,” said Gourang Das (65), a villager.